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Asia Muslims mark Eid holiday

Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - 02:16

Oct. 15 - Muslims throughout Asia join global celebrations to mark the start of the Eid holiday. Paul Chapman reports.

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The Eid al-Adha festival is celebrated by Muslims around the globe but in Bangladesh just getting home to be with family is no easy task. Tens of thousands packed onto trains and ferries in the capital, Dhaka, to make the journey to their hometowns. With nearly every centimetre of space occupied not everyone was able to make it. (SOUNDBITE) (Bengali) SHARMIN AKHTAR, WOMAN TRYING TO CATCH A TRAIN, SAYING: "Since this morning the trains have been so crowded. I've not been able to climb onto a train so I'm waiting for another one. I hope to go home to celebrate Eid." In Indonesia where more than 85 per cent of the population is Muslim, millions turned out to celebrate Islam's second-largest religious festival. The event symbolises obedience and loyalty to God. It's also a time when those who can afford it sacrifice livestock and feed the poor. Many who were buying livestock, like those at this market in Pakistan ahead of the big day, noticed a steep rise in prices. Some said prices had more than doubled on the previous year. In the Philippines where some 2, 000 gathered in this Manila park, they prayed for peace, particularly in the south where there's a decades-old separatist conflict. Peace was on the mind of Afghan President Hamid Karzai too after Eid prayers at the presidential palace mosque. (SOUNDBITE)(Dari) AFGHAN PRESIDENT HAMID KARZAI SAYING: "I call on the Taliban and their leaders to stop killing Afghan youths. Those who join the Taliban, they are also Afghanistan's youth so do not cause the destruction of their homes. Do not also become the cause of the killing of brave sons of this soil who defend their territory and national pride." Despite his words a bomb attack on a mosque south of Kabul killed the governor of Logar province. Arsala Jamal was said to have been making an Eid holiday address at the time. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.